Amazon fires stir bitter dispute over who is to blame - Phys.org
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Amazon fires stir bitter dispute over who is
to blame
22 August 2019, by Marcelo Silva De Sousa
Meteorological Organization.
On Thursday, Bolsonaro said there was a "very
strong" indication that some non-governmental
groups could be setting blazes in retaliation for
losing state funds under his administration. He did
not provide any evidence.
Bolsonaro, who won election last year, also
accused media organizations of exploiting the fires
to undermine his government.
"Most of the media wants Brazil to end up like
Venezuela," he said, referring to political and
economic turbulence in the neighboring South
American country.
This Aug. 15, 2019 satellite image from Maxar
Technologies shows closeup view of a fire southwest of
Porto Velho Brazil. Brazil's National Institute for Space
Research, a federal agency monitoring deforestation and
wildfires, said the country has seen a record number of
wildfires this year as of Tuesday, Aug. 20. (Satellite
image ©2019 Maxar Technologies via AP)
As fires raged in the Amazon rainforest, the
Brazilian government on Thursday denounced
international critics who say President Jair
Bolsonaro is not doing enough to curb massive
deforestation.
The growing threat to what some call "the lungs of
the planet" has ignited a bitter dispute about who is
to blame during the tenure of a leader who
described Brazil's rainforest protections as an
obstacle to economic development.
The president's defiance came as its own federal
experts reported a record number of wildfires
across the country this year, up 84 percent over
the same period in 2018. Satellite images show
smoke from the Amazon reaching across the Latin
American continent to the Atlantic coast and Sao
Paulo, Brazil's biggest city, according to the World
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The rights group this year documented illegal land
invasions and arson attacks near indigenous
territories in the Amazon, including Rondonia state,
where many fires are raging, said Kumi Naidoo,
Amnesty's secretary general.
"Instead of spreading outrageous lies or denying
the scale of deforestation taking place, we urge the
president to take immediate action to halt the
progress of these fires," Naidoo said.
The WWF conservation group also challenged
Bolsonaro's allegations about NGOs, saying they
divert "the focus of attention from what really
matters: the well-being of nature and the people of
the Amazon."
This Aug. 15, 2019 satellite image from Maxar
Technologies shows a fire and cleared land southwest of
This Aug. 15, 2019 satellite image from Maxar Porto Velho Brazil. Brazil's National Institute for Space
Technologies shows overview of fires southwest of Porto Research, a federal agency monitoring deforestation and
Velho, Brazil. Brazil's National Institute for Space wildfires, said the country has seen a record number of
Research, a federal agency monitoring deforestation and wildfires this year as of Tuesday, Aug. 20. (Satellite
wildfires, said the country has seen a record number of image ©2019 Maxar Technologies via AP)
wildfires this year as of Tuesday, Aug. 20. (Satellite
image ©2019 Maxar Technologies via AP)
Brazil contains about 60 percent of the Amazon
rainforest, whose degradation could have severe
London-based Amnesty International blamed the
consequences for global climate and rainfall.
Brazilian government for the fires, which have
Bolsonaro, who has said he wants to convert land
escalated international concern over the vast
for cattle pastures and soybean farms, won office
rainforest that is a major absorber of carbon dioxide
after channeling outrage over the corruption
from the atmosphere.
scandals of the former government.
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Citing Brazil's apparent lack of commitment to
fighting deforestation, Germany and Norway have
decided to withhold more than $60 million in funds
earmarked for sustainability projects in Brazil's
forests.
In this Aug. 20, 2019 drone photo released by the Corpo
de Bombeiros de Mato Grosso, brush fires burn in
Guaranta do Norte municipality, Mato Grosso state,
Brazil. Brazil's National Institute for Space Research, a
federal agency monitoring deforestation and wildfires,
said the country has seen a record number of wildfires
this year. (Corpo de Bombeiros de Mato Grosso via AP)
Filipe Martins, an adviser to Bolsonaro, said on
Twitter that the Brazilian government is committed
to fighting illegal deforestation and that many other
countries are causing environmental damage.
The Amazon will be saved by Brazil and not "the
empty, hysterical and misleading rhetoric of the
mainstream media, transnational bureaucrats and
NGOs," Martins said.
© 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
APA citation: Amazon fires stir bitter dispute over who is to blame (2019, August 22) retrieved 24 August
2019 from https://phys.org/news/2019-08-amazon-bitter-dispute-blame.html
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